Disclosed herein are wager game machines and methods. In one example, a method involves: selecting a first symbol set from a global symbol group; displaying the first symbol set, wherein the first symbol set includes at least two symbols; determining that a trigger event has occurred; responsive to determining that the trigger event has occurred, identifying at least one symbol in the first symbol set that is in a replaceable symbol group which is a subset of the global symbol group; for the or each symbol in the first symbol set which is in the replaceable symbol group, selecting a replacement symbol that is in the global symbol group; and displaying a second symbol set consisting of (i) the symbols in the first symbol set which are not in the replaceable symbol group, and (ii) the or each replacement symbol.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A method comprising: selecting a first symbol set from a global symbol group; receiving a first wager via a user interface before selecting the first symbol set; displaying the first symbol set, wherein the first symbol set includes at least two symbols; determining, using a stored payout table, a first payout amount, wherein the first payout amount is a function of the first symbol set and the received first wager; displaying the determined first payout amount; determining that a trigger event has occurred; responsive to determining that the trigger event has occurred, identifying at least two symbols in the first symbol set that are in a replaceable symbol group which is a subset of the global symbol group; for the identified at least two symbols in the first symbol set which are in the replaceable symbol group, making one selection of a replacement symbol that is in the global symbol group; displaying a second symbol set consisting of (i) the symbols in the first symbol set which are not in the replaceable symbol group, and (ii) for each of the identified at least two replacement symbols, the selected replacement symbol; receiving a second wager via the user interface after selecting the first symbol set and before displaying the second symbol set; determining, using the payout table, a second payout amount, wherein the second payout amount is a function of the second symbol set and the second wager; and displaying the determined second payout amount.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: receiving a user request, via a user interface, to display a set of symbols; and responsive to receiving the user request, selecting the first symbol set from the global symbol group; and wherein determining that the trigger event has occurred comprises determining that the first symbol set includes a trigger symbol.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: for any symbol included in the first symbol set which is in the replaceable symbol group, displaying an indication that that symbol is a replaceable symbol.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first symbol set includes multiple sub sets and the global symbol group includes multiple sub groups, each sub group corresponding to one of the sub sets, and wherein selecting the first symbol set from the global symbol group comprises selecting each sub set from the corresponding sub group.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first symbol set is displayed in a column and row arrangement and each sub set is displayed in a corresponding column.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the symbols of the first symbol set are displayed on a row across a plurality of reels each containing the symbols of the global symbol group.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein displaying the first symbol set comprises superimposing each sub set over a corresponding reel.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the one replacement symbol comprises using a random number generator to select the one replacement symbol.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the one replacement symbol comprises selecting one predetermined replacement symbol.
10. A machine comprising: a display configured to display a symbol set in a wager game; a processor; and a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a payout table and software instructions, that when executed by the processor, perform a set of functions, the set of functions comprising: selecting a first symbol set from a global symbol group, wherein the first symbol set includes at least two symbols; receiving a first wager via a user interface before selecting the first symbol set; displaying on the display the selected first symbol set; determining, using the stored payout table, a first payout amount, wherein the first payout amount is a function of the selected first symbol set and the received first wager; displaying on the display the determined first payout amount; determining that a trigger event occurred; responsive to determining that the trigger event occurred, selecting at least two replaceable symbols from a replaceable symbol group, wherein the replaceable symbol group is a subset of the global symbol group; making one selection of a replacement symbol from the global symbol group; displaying on the display, a second symbol set, wherein the displayed second symbol set is identical to the displayed first symbol set, except that each of the selected at least two replaceable symbols included in the selected first symbol set is replaced by the selected replacement symbol; receiving a second wager via the user interface after selecting the first symbol set and before displaying the second symbol set; determining, using the stored payout table, a second payout amount, wherein the second payout amount is a function of the displayed second symbol set and the received second wager; and displaying on the display the determined second payout amount.
11. The machine of claim 10 , wherein the selected first symbol set includes multiple sub sets, wherein the global symbol group includes multiple sub groups, each sub group corresponding to one of the sub sets, and wherein selecting the first symbol set from the global symbol group comprises selecting each sub set from the corresponding sub group.
12. The machine of claim 11 , wherein displaying on the display the selected first symbol set comprises displaying the selected first symbol set in a column and row arrangement, wherein each sub set is displayed in a corresponding column.
13. The machine of claim 12 , wherein each symbol in the selected first symbol set is associated with an arrangement position in the column and row arrangement, and wherein displaying the selected first symbol set in a column and row arrangement comprises displaying each symbol in the selected first symbol set according to the corresponding arrangement position.
14. The machine of claim 13 , wherein displaying on the display the selected first symbol set comprises superimposing each sub set over a corresponding virtual reel.
15. The machine of claim 10 , wherein determining that the trigger event occurred comprises determining that the selected first symbol set includes a trigger symbol, the set of functions further comprising displaying on the display the selected replacement symbol superimposed over a virtual reel that is superimposed over the displayed trigger symbol.
16. A server machine configured to communicate with a client machine over a computer network, the client machine including a display configured to display a symbol set in a wager game, the server machine comprising: a processor; and a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a payout table and software instructions, that when executed by the processor, perform a set of functions, the set of functions comprising: selecting a first symbol set from a global symbol group, wherein the first symbol set includes at least two symbols; receiving a first wager from the client machine before selecting the first symbol set; sending the selected first symbol set to the client machine to display on the display; determining, using the stored payout table, a first payout amount, wherein the first payout amount is a function of the selected first symbol set and the received first wager; sending the determined first payout amount to the client machine to display on the display; determining that a trigger event occurred; responsive to determining that the trigger event occurred, selecting at least two replaceable symbols from a replaceable symbol group, wherein the replaceable symbol group is a subset of the global symbol group; sending the selected at least two replaceable symbols to the client machine; making one selection of a replacement symbol from the global symbol group; sending the selected replacement symbol to the client machine for displaying on the display a second symbol set, wherein the displayed second symbol set is identical to the displayed first symbol set, except that each of the selected at least two replaceable symbols included in the displayed first symbol set is replaced by the selected replacement symbol; receiving a second wager from the client machine after selecting the first symbol set and before selecting the replaceable symbol; determining, using the stored payout table, a second payout amount, wherein the second payout amount is a function of the second symbol set and the received second wager; and sending the determined second payout amount to the client machine for display on the display.
17. A client machine configured to communicate with a server machine over a computer network, the client machine comprising: a display configured to display a symbol set of a wager game; a processor; and a non-transitory computer readable medium storing software instructions, that when executed by the processor, perform a set of functions, the set of functions comprising: receiving from the server machine a first symbol set, wherein the first symbol set includes at least two symbols from a global symbol group; displaying on the display the received first symbol set; receiving a first wager via a user interface before receiving the first symbol set; sending the received first wager to the server machine; receiving from the server machine a first payout amount, responsive to sending the received first wager to the server machine, wherein the first payout amount is a function of the received first symbol set and the received first wager; displaying on the display the received first payout amount; receiving from the server machine at least two replaceable symbols, wherein the at least two replaceable symbols are from a replaceable symbol group, and wherein the replaceable symbol group is a subset of the global symbol group; receiving from the server machine a replacement symbol, wherein one selection of the replacement symbol was made; displaying on the display, a second symbol set, wherein the displayed second symbol set is identical to the displayed first symbol set, except that each of the received at least two replaceable symbols included in the displayed first symbol set is replaced by the received replacement symbol; receiving a second wager via the user interface after receiving the first payout amount and before receiving the replaceable symbol; sending the received second wager to the server machine; receiving from the server machine a second payout amount, responsive to sending the received second wager to the server machine, wherein the second payout amount is a function of the second symbol set and the received second wager; and displaying on the display the received second payout amount.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
September 27, 2013
March 15, 2016
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